The towering wall behind the excavation on South Shore Road for a service station encroaches on land which appears to have been probated by the heirs of Edward Power Boyd, according to a probate court judge.

Superior Court Judge Kathleen Mackay, could not hear St. Johnian Monica Boyd-Richards’ lawsuit against the developers of the gas station in the Power Boyd section of Estate Bethany, but Judge Mackay made it very clear why she was recusing herself from the case and returning it the Clerk of the Superior Court for reassignment to another Judge.

Boyd-Richards, an attorney with a Doctorate in Community Law from Howard University who no longer practices, is representing herself in the current action, has been in a property dispute with the developer of the gas station on South Shore Road on the hillside overlooking the Westin Resort since the start of the years-long construction project.

The daughter of late Edward Power Boyd has been battling the developer over the alleged encroachment of the long, narrow construction site on her family property in the neighborhood known as “Power Boyd” located behind and above the towering excavation done for the station and its above-ground storage tanks.

Judge Mackay, however, did provide Atty. Richards with some additional legal validation of her claim of ownership of the parcel involved in her legal action against the development which abuts her family property.“ …the undersigned hereby RECUSES herself from the… matter to avoid the appearance of impropriety as while in private practice she probated the Estates of Edward Power Boyd and Sara Boyd from which remainder Parcel No. 1 (a/k/a Parcel No. 1-W) Estate Bethany, St. John, Virgin Islands, was distributed to Monica Boyd Richards and others… ,” Judge McKay wrote in her recusal order.

Judge Identifies Property as Probated“ … the aforesaid parcel appears to be the precise parcel that Monica Boyd-Richards asserts is being damaged by the Defendants,” Judge Mackay wrote in the order recusing herself from the Action for a Temporary Restraining Order, Injunctive Relief, Declaratory Judgment and Damages, Reversion Trespass and Damages, Civil No. ST-13-INJ-0000001.

“Therefore, (the undersigned) returns same to the Clerk of the Court for re-assignment,” Judge Mackay wrote in her November 22, 2013, Order. The case has yet to be reassigned to another judge.

Boyd-Richards, who says she has turned down settlement offers from the developer as their dispute has smoldered during the lengthy excavation and construction project, is not waiting quietly for the legal system to take its course.

“I don’t want his money,” said Boyd-Richards. “This is our family land.”

“I’m not selling,” she continued. “I’m keeping the property in the family.”